I hate for this to be the first blog post for my revamped website, but this story has been heavy on my heart for the past 24 hours. If you hadn’t heard by now, Grammy-nominated rapper, Nipsey Hussle (born Ermias Davidson Asghedom) was shot and killed outside of one of his Marathon stores in California. I had always heard of Nipsey Hussle over the years & heard him featured on songs, but it wasn’t until last year that I became a fan, when I heard his first studio album, “Victory Lap”. I played the album not knowing what to expect and it was great all the way through. I remember the day that it was released, there was other music that came out that day that I wanted to hear in addition to it, so I planned to skim through the album & then come back & listen to the album in depth, but once I started playing the album, I got lost in it. The album told a story with songs like “Hussle & Motivate”, “Dedication”, “Grinding All My Life” & “Double Up”. This album was my pick for the hip hop album of the year for 2018 & I made that known several times last year.

What hurts even more is that this man was doing a lot of positive things for his community & was trying to change it. He offered employment to homeless people and donated money to a lot of people in his community. Nipsey also had was engaged to actress, Lauren London and has a 2 ½ year old son with her as well as a daughter from a previous relationship. He was in the process of making a documentary about the trial of Dr. Sebi, who was known for curing AIDS along with other ailments, a trial in which he won, because they couldn’t prove that he didn’t cure people of AIDS and he had all the evidence & witnesses to prove that he did. He later died & some people speculate it was the government who killed him, because they didn’t want his teachings to get out. Some speculate that his death was caused by the government, some speculate that it was gang-related, but at the end of the day a life has been taken and it was someone who was really trying to bring about change.

To me, this death feels like what the loss of Tupac or Biggie felt like for people back in the 90’s. I am still in disbelief. My heart hurts for Lauren London, because you could just see how much she loved him. My heart hurts for his children, because they now have to go through life without their biological father. I know that he will be missed by a lot of fans and I am one of them. Rest in Peace Nipsey Hussle. Your music will live on forever!